Tech Tips and Tricks & Advice – written in plain English.

Adding programs to your Startup Folder

Do you have a favorite program that you’d like to start as soon as Windows does — perhaps your email client? I have told you in previous articles about stopping programs from loading at boot, and today I’lltell you how to reverse the process, and gain further control your computer’s behavior.

Tip of the day: It seems a lot of you have been interested in how to remove unwanted programs from your Startup Folder, and if you’ve done so, you already know how to navigate to and open it. For today’s tip I’m going to use as an example adding Outlook Express, so that it will automatically open for you when you turn on your machine and start your day. Because if you’re like me, one of the first things you do is check your email…and you like to save steps and time. I will also show you a different way of navigating to the folder.

In the previous articles I told you that when you deleted programs from your Startup Folder you we not deleting the programs — merely shortcuts to the program. Today we’re going to add a shortcut.In Windows XP, start by opening My Computer, either by Start >My Computer, or double-clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop. Now double-click the Local Drive (C:) icon, [you may get a window saying “these files and folders are hidden”. Just click on the “view these now” link.] and then locate and double-click the Documents and Settings folder.

If you wanted to make a change for all the users of your machine you would open the All Users folder. Since we are customizing the start-up behavior just for ourselves, we open the folder that matches our User Name — in this machine’s case, the folder named “Terry” (it’s a long story…Sharp-eyed, security-conscious types will notice that the Aministrator account hasn’t been renamed on this machine — a “no no”.). Now we look for and open the Start Menu Folder. Open it and then open the Program folder, and finally, Startup.

As you can see, this User Account has no programs at all listed in its Startup folder. That doesn’t mean that no programs launch at boot. The programs I do want, (antivirus, firewall, etc.) I want to have run no matter who is using the machine, so they’re listed in the All User’s Startup folder.

In Vista, it is a little different: the Startup folder is listed in Programs, accessed from the Start button. Click Start >Programs and scroll down until you see the folder labeled Startup. Double-click it to open its contents window and drag your shortcuts into there.

Adding a program shortcut is easy, and it’s easiest if there is already an icon on the desktop (which is also a shortcut, btw). Simply right-click on the icon and drag it into the open Startup window, and let go. A menu will open: select “Create shortcut here”. And that’s it. You’re done.
If there isn’t a desktop icon, hover your mouse over the Start button, and then Programs. Now the list of all your programs appears. Again, simply right-click and drag the ones you want, as outlined immediately above. Now the next time you boot Windows, those programs will open for you automatically. A neat little trick.

Today’s free link:Trillion For those of us who use IM. This tool lets you combine your various IMs into a single “control panel”. From website: “Trillian™ is a fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. It provides capabilities not possible with original network clients, while supporting standard features such as audio chat, file transfers, group chats, chat rooms, buddy icons, multiple simultaneous connections to the same network, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS support, and privacy settings.”

Sir or Ms,
I do appreciate reader participation, and I never have objections to referencing Microsoft KB’s, so I “allowed” your comment, and I thank you for your contribution.

But I see that strategy (Group Policy) as a method for Admins managing an AD environment (of XP Pro workstations) and not one for “average computer users” (consumer). (GPedit is not available in Home editions.)

Jerry–
If you click Start> Programs >Startup, and see the icon for your program, you have done the steps properly and the program should start when you boot.
I suspect that you stopped opening folders at “Start Menu”, and didn’t continue into “Programs” and then “Startup”.

Sometimes, tho rarely, there’s can be an issue if you drag a shortcut to a shortcut into the Startup folder.. You can make sure to avoid this by openning c:\Program Files and finding the “program.exe” icon for your desired app, and dragging from there.
If you still exerience issues, contact me at http://aplusca.com

Hmmm.. In IE I use the “Open these tabs next time IE starts” feature.(To read my How To on this, click here.)
In short, I have several tabs open (in one instance of IE) to my main/favorite Sites (such as Webmail Inboxes), and before I shut down for the night, I close IE. I am then presented with the dialogue shown in the How To.
Then, when I next open my browser, those tabs re-open (to my chosen Sites).

I don’t really recommend putting too much into your start-up routine, as what you gain in convenience, you lose in time (It’ll slow your boot/Windows launch).

Restoring A Deleted Item.
1) If you haven’t emptied the Recycle Bin, you’ll find it in there. Right-click on the item and select “Restore”. If you deleted it some time ago and it’s no longer in the Recycle Bin, you might try an undelete program (aka “File Recovery”).
2) Use System Restore to restore your computer’s state to a date before you deleted the item (this depends on the item). Sometimes you might have to go into your Backup copy of your system.. that you make from time to time to prevent data loss from hard-drive failures and such.
3) Recreate the item.

But in your case, I think all you need to do is reboot.
But I’m not sure.. I have never run across this before, and I can’t find an answer in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
(I’ve been doing this for a long time, too!)

techpaul,
Is there a way to have regular folders open on start up? I open 4 folders every morning and they stay open until shutdown at the end of the day. Any way to shortcut? Still running XP here…
I’m new to your site and you are already bookmarked!
Thanks!

Open C:\Documents and Setting\user\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
Then, right-click and drag a folder into that window, let go, and choose “Create shortcut here” from the menu that opens. Repeat for your other 3 folders.

When you boot up (start) your computer, those 4 windows will be open, showing the folder contents.

Is there a way to have the folders open on login with no access to the C: Drive? I work remotely from home and I log into the computer at work. My login has no access to the c: Drive… Thanks for the tips!

Hi ,
Just added a little exe file to my startup folder. works ok as long as I keep my account as “administrator”. The moment I change my user profile to “user” with limited privileges, it gives me an error. How to I allow this to run continue to run as a user?

Thanks,
I did that already and ran into another problem – each time I boot up, the program tries to run and I get a pop up window asking for an administrator password. Problem is how do I automate this.
I also came across a “cmd” version thru”cacls” (access control lists) – but not having much success there either as it gives me an error message about user id not being mapped!

Owen,
As this is not the type of question helpful to “everyone”, and has the potential for misuse, I will simply refer you to a forum that has these types of advanced questions/answers (scripting/batch files/autorun), here, and tell you it can be done.

Krushna Ratnaparkhi,
I am not sure that I understand what you are asking. And not sure what you mean by “anyone’s pc”.

But I can tell you that you do not want too many programs automatically launching at startup (boot). In fact, you want the opposite.
Further, that you generally tell the program whether or not to “launch when Windows starts” either during the install process, or by going into its “Preferences” (or “Settings”) .. or you can use the method the article describes.
I can further tell you that software licensing rules generally require you to obtain your own copy of the program (whether buy purchasing, or downloading) and need to be installed (to one device).

Paul,
I hope you can help because I’m almost at the point of giving up!
By chance, have you posted the instructions on how to do this in Windows 8? Step by step with pictures included? If not, would you please consider? Otherwise, I’m going to do it manually! Not that I want to. Thank you so much.

Pink Floyd,
Off the top of my head, I think the answer depends of what type of file. Standard practice is to use a shortcut. (Which is no big deal, just right-click, drag-and-drop.)
But you can try your way.

• About Tech Paul

I am a (semi)-Retired CompTIA Certified computer & network technician, and the owner of Aplus Computer Aid. I have been building/fixing networks and computers since Windows 95 was the new kid on the block.

I have regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here since 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers.) Sometimes I answer (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer is generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see is my own, typos and all. There is an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
You can write to me using this form.

Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.

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